Recommendation on the Report from the Joint Provost/Academic
Senate, California State University Task Force on Facilitating Graduation:
Facilitating Student Success in Achieving the Baccalaureate Degree

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of the California State University
(CSU) receive the report and commend the collaborative process by the Joint
Provost/Academic Senate CSU Task Force on Facilitating Graduation that produced:
Facilitating Student Success in Achieving the Baccalaureate Degree
(http://www.calstate.edu/AcadSen/Records/Reports/FacilitatingGraduation.pdf)
; and be it further

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate CSU endorse the principles and
recommendations of the Joint Provost/Academic Senate CSU Task Force on
Facilitating Graduation with the following stipulations:

Given that many of the factors that affect graduation rates are outside
the control of the CSU, only incremental improvement in graduation rates can
be expected.

Any plan to improve graduation rates must be constrained by Principle 1
of the report: "The primary goal of the academic enterprise is to provide
a high quality, productive, meaningful academic experience for students."

The implementation of the Task Force recommendations will be severely
constrained by the lack of funding necessary for faculty, staff, degree audit,
and improved advising processes.

That the California State University Board of Trustees

review, in consultation with the Academic Senate CSU and the
Chancellor's Office, the data on improving graduation rates and determine
what further research, if any, should be engaged. Any additional policy
options that may be considered, based upon this review, should be
developed through ongoing consultation with the Academic Senate CSU and
the campus senates; and

ensure that individual campuses of the California State University
system, through the shared governance process, retain autonomy in their
efforts to design institutionally tailored programs guided by the
principles and recommendations articulated in the Report from the
California State University Task Force on Facilitating Graduation, to
facilitate student success in achieving the baccalaureate degree.

RATIONALE: The committee structure and process that developed the
report, Facilitating Student Success in Achieving the Baccalaureate Degree, was
a model for shared governance. It was a joint committee of provosts and
faculty, selected by the Senate, and supported by staff from the Chancellor's
Office. Members of the Board of Trustees were involved in early drafts of the
report and the final report is a product of all three groups. The report is
being presented to the Board of Trustees on a time line that allows the Academic
Senate CSU and the campus senates to respond.

The Joint Provost/Academic Senate CSU Task Force on Facilitating Graduation has
produced a report grounded in a large data set, with a good review of the
literature, that provides a wide range of policy options. The principles
recommended by the report emphasize that facilitating student success toward
achieving the baccalaureate degree must be achieved within a framework of
academic excellence and program quality. Moreover, the report recognizes that
the CSU has only limited influence over the most important factor determining
graduation rates: "exposure to a rigorous curriculum in secondary school." In
addition, the diversity of our student body and its "priorities of family, work,
and school" are not within system control. Because of this, we can expect to
have only limited impact on graduation rates by focusing on those things which
the system can control.

At the local level, the recommendations emphasize campus autonomy by asking each
campus to develop a plan "based on local institutional research, to improve
graduation rates." Many of the Task Force recommendations for CSU campuses
require increased faculty, staff and equipment recourses. "Developing a plan,
based on local institutional research," requires that campuses have the
resources to conduct this research. Developing "graduation roadmaps" and
"improving advising practices" requires additional time by the permanent faculty
whose numbers are steadily diminishing. Assuring that courses will be
available "during specified terms" requires that campuses have the budgets to
offer these courses.

It is important that the California State University Board of Trustees both
recognize and acknowledge the need for individually tailored campus efforts
to facilitate student success in achieving the baccalaureate. The diversity
in institutions, programs, campus cultures, and student populations within the
CSU makes it doubtful that any single formula or programmatic structure will
address the needs of students on all campuses.

At the system level the California State University Board of Trustees is asked
to "assess improvements in graduation rates, and to consider if more incentives
and disincentives are needed for both students and institutions." Because
graduation rates are affected by a wide variety of complex issues, it is
important that the California State University Board of Trustees and the
Chancellor's Office work closely with the campuses, through the shared
governance process, and the Academic Senate of the California State University
in developing further policy options.